Everything Back to you: I'll be Home for Christmas
by Takada Saiko
Summary: Set in the AU universe. Jacob's first Christmas with Kelly and Bruce (and then some).


**I'll Be Home for Christmas**

Bringing home a child wasn't like bringing home a puppy, that's what Bruce had told her when she said she wanted to take him home. She understood what he meant, but every time she looked at him she couldn't help but feel how right it was. He was underfed under all the layers he wore. Under cared for too, that much was evident after spending a mere five minutes with him. Once he knew the game was up he refused to look her in the eye, like he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead of calling the police she had taken him home. It was three days out until Christmas anyway. There was no reason for a boy to spend Christmas on the street, and that's all he would do if she turned him in.

Jacob. It had taken him hours to give her his name, but she'd coaxed it out of him with freshly baked cookies and hot chocolate. He wouldn't tell her where he was from, his last name, or really anything about himself for that first night, but she saw the amazement that flickered through his eyes when he thought she wasn't watching him look at the decorations around the apartment. Kelly and Bruce had always decorated well as they were the ones that hosted his school's Christmas party every year. The party had come and gone and had left tinsel, garland, and all the presents that she had bought for her brother's children under the tree. Jacob's blue gaze lingered on those for a moment and Kelly and smiled and asked him if he celebrated Christmas. "Not a lot," was all the teen had said and looked back to the floating marshmallows in his hot chocolate.

She had made up a bed for him in the guest room, but he had stayed up with her, sitting quietly and watching as if he wasn't quite sure if he could trust her or not. Kelly had always been a nighthowl to an extent, so she continued to talk to him, even if he didn't answer a great deal. She told him about herself, about the bakery she owned, and the catering business she was thinking about branching out into. She asked him if he had a favourite treat and he shrugged. She made him sugar cookies with icing piled on top and she was fairly certain that she saw a hint of a smile there with his first bite as he confessed that he couldn't remember the last time he'd had something sweet that someone had given him.

He stayed with them that night and Kelly was happily relieved when she woke the next morning to find him sleeping in the bed. She offered him the next night as well and he accepted it. On the third night Bruce had put out several new presents under the tree with their young guest's name on it. When Kelly asked, amused at her husband's quiet way of doing things, he had simply shrugged and told her it was Christmas. When Kelly offered for him to attend mass with them that night she had never been more pleased to have him accept. On their walk down to the church, his eyes fix carefully on anything but her, he told her his last name was Phelps and that he'd run from bad foster home in Chicago. Those careful blue eyes of his flickered over to where she'd stopped in the snow. "You don't have to go back there, Jacob," she promised.

He gave her a look like he wasn't quite ready to believe her. "You don't even know me."

"I'd like to though," she answered and that was all that was said of it that evening.

One night had turned into two that had turned into three, and Jacob Phelps had stayed for Christmas and then through New Year. In the early months of 1995 they had taken the steps needed to adopt the boy that Kelly had brought home with her on a whim and she and her husband suddenly had the son that they had always wanted, even with all of the quirks of his personality that came with him. She couldn't imagine a child in their lives that was more perfectly suited for them.

With each passing day, they worried about him running less and less, but Kelly would never have thought that she could have lost him in any other way in those early days. She certainly hadn't foreseen the angry, abused boy that had landed on their doorstep growing into the man that he had, taking a job that most would have been too afraid to venture into, and protecting those few people that he kept close and so many more. The call that he'd been shot in Austria had been the worst she had ever received, and the idea of not flying straight over there even worse, but Liz had gone and she had spoken to her son every day from the moment he woke up in the hospital.

Of all the Christmases they'd spent with Jacob since he had fallen into their lives the one after she had nearly lost him might have been one of Kelly's favourites. He was still pale and moved slowly, but her son's smile was so real as they sat around his DC apartment with Liz and Don who had just come home for Christmas leave. It wasn't decorated like their home had been on that first Christmas with him, but the food was there, and as Kelly stood in her son's kitchen, putting together a batch of cookies, she felt him put his arms around her and hug her from behind. "Sorry we couldn't make it up there this year."

"I think you have an excuse," Kelly answered with a smile. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"Getting there." He sighed, and finally released her. "I think I'm going to ask Liz to marry me."

Her smile turned into a grin and Kelly pulled him back into the hug, feeling her son laugh before hearing it. "I take it you approve?"

"Oh yes," she chuckled and kissed his scruffy cheek. "Our family's growing."

"Better than shrinking, definitely."

She shooker her head. "No more close calls, do you hear me?"

"You don't have to worry. The doctor says it'll be a long while before I'm back out in the field. That's if I ever get back at all."

"Are you thinking about a switch of career?"

"No, not really. Just… Liz and I talked about it. We _are_ talking about it, and I think she's right, especially if she agrees to marry me. I don't want to leave her alone. I'll probably take a permanent desk assignment."

"It's a big step."

"It is, but the guys'll understand. I've already told Ress."

Kelly followed her son's gaze to the living room where Liz was telling some sort of a story that had both Don and Bruce laughing and she turned back to Jacob and pulled him into another hug. "It's so good to have you home, sweetie."

"It's good to be home, Mom," he answered with the rarely used nickname and kissed the side of her head. Without warning he reached past her and snatched a cookie, a mischievous grin plastered across his face and he'd popped it in his mouth before she could protest.

"Thief," she grumbled.

"Yeah, well, _that_ was something you knew pretty early on," he teased.

"Oh, I saw a bit more."

"Glad you did."

"Your father and I are too. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," he returned and helped her pick up the treats to take them to everyone.

It had been an adventure since taking him in, but Kelly didn't regret it for a moment. This was her family in this little apartment, mostly adopted in in one way or another. It was a slow process, but one well worth the wait, and she wouldn't have wanted to spend it any other way.

* * *

Notes: I promised my readers on Tumblr last night that I would put up another EBtY universe Christmas short, so here it is! I've also had some requests for more about Kelly and Bruce, so it seemed natural to wrap them into this one.

Happy Christmas everyone! I'll try to get the next chapter up this weekend.


End file.
